PHILOSOPHY, MORAL, 
Cleaning of That we should pay 
great l egard to the dictates of our own mo- 
ral sense, and to those of others. — 3. That 
in deliberate actions we should weigh the 
probable consequences on each side. — 
4. That we are not to be guided implicitly 
by the mere impulse of comi)assibn and 
good-will ; yet that great regard should be 
paid to them in our conduct. — H. That we 
should place ourselves in the situation of 
the persons concerned. — 6. That persons in 
the near relations of life, benefactors, de- 
pendants, and enemies, seem to have, in 
most cases, a prior claim to Strangers. — 7. 
That benevolent and religious persons have, 
all other things being equal, a prior claim 
to the rest of mankind, — 8. That we should 
contribute, as far as lies in our power, to 
the moral and religious improvement of 
others. — 9. That we ought to pay the strict- 
est regard to truth, both in our affirmations 
and in our promises. — 10. That we ought 
to obey the civil magistrate and the laws of 
the community.”— Tliese rules we think 
truly unexceptionable ; and we shall follow 
the order of Hartley, enlarging on some of 
them as we proceed. It appears, however, 
to be desirable, that we first enter a little 
into the consideration of the necessity of 
our acting upon general rules of conduct. 
74. To show that general rules of con- 
duct are necessary in the present state of 
human nature, it is simply requisite to an- 
swer the question. What would be the state 
of things without them? We should then 
be under the necessity of calculating in 
every case that conies before us, on what 
side the good or evil attending certain ac- 
tions preponderates. In fact, our lives 
would be a series of thought, instead of 
what they were designed to be, a series of 
action. A total stop would be put to the 
business of life, and instead of regularity 
and consistency in a person’s conduct, we 
must expect to find nothing but a series of 
actions, constantly proceeding from no 
steady principle, and marked with all the 
features of inconsistency. — But further, we 
are led to the same conclusjon, when we 
consider our ignorance of futurity, and the 
little time and leisure possessed by the ge- 
nerality of men for the iqvestigation of the 
consequences of their ajtions. We not un- 
frnquently are unable precisely to trace 
even those consequences which are- imme- 
diate and apparent, still less those which 
arise silently and gradually in the lapse of 
time. The consequences of our actions 
may last when the agents have long ceased 
VOL. V. 
to exist as children of mortality. Our ac- 
tions may influence others ; our deviations 
may produce more extensive deviations, of 
which we have no knowledge. Perhaps 
there is scarcely an important action in our 
lives, the consequences of which are con- 
fined to ourselves, or even to our own 
sphere of observation. — Besides, if we wOre 
unable to lay down general rules for con- 
duct, and were obliged to decide upon each 
action as it occurred, it is scarcely possible 
that we should avoid the influence of heat- 
ed feeling ; and seldom should we possess 
that abstraction of mind, which would ena- 
ble us to leave the present out of consider- 
ation, and view with calmness and impartia- 
lity the tenderness of our actions. Innumer- 
able are the cases in which interest o-r 
passion paint in vivid colours the course to 
which they prompt, and throw into the 
back ground, and render almost impercepti- 
ble, the dangers which should induce us 
steadily and perseveringly to avoid it : 
hence, we may lay it down as indispensa- 
bly necessary, that there should be general 
rides for conduct, and consequently a de- 
viation from a general rule must of itself be 
an evil. 
75. Yet there are cases in which the ge- 
neral rule seems to fail of application ; in 
which the immediate consequences are 
such as benevolence, equally with self inter- 
est, seems to reject. In such cases our 
inquiry should be, what would be the con- 
sequence if the conduct became general, 
which, in my individual case, seems to be 
so favourable to happiness, social or pri- 
vate. And if we have reason to believe 
that it would be injurious, our belief, in the 
beneficial tendency of the individual ac- 
tion, should be considered as less founded ; 
we should perhaps in all cases, certainly in 
most, unhesitatingly sacrifice much private 
advantage, and even the apparent good pf 
others to consistency in our adherence to 
what on the whole must be best. We 
may indeed think that the consequences 
which would arise from the general adoption 
of our individual conduct, ought not to be 
attributed in any way to us; but we should 
recollect that if we once break down the 
barrier, however small the breach, the ad- 
vantage gained by the enemy is evident. 
In fact, when once we remove the limits 
which reason and revelation fix, we usurp 
to ourselves the privilege of the Almighty, 
and cannot fail to prove our own weakness, 
— It is on this ground, and with great jus- 
tice, that Paley considers crimes as deiiv- 
X 
